Monday, July 27, 2009

Prehistoric Grinding Stone

My previous post about the discovery of granaries which were thought to predate agriculture (domestication of plants) by about 1000 years, included a photo and illustration of one of the granaries.

This was interesting:

"The outer walls of the structure, which was constructed ~11,300 - 11,200 BP, are defined by a partially preserved mud wall. Inside the structure are used grinding stones in upright position that have been notched to hold wooden beams."

Used grinding stones? Wikipedia gives this photo of a Neolithic grinding stone, used "to grind up grains by swaying":

Click to enlarge.

That looks like barley to me, but I'm not sure, could be wheat. The seed also looks too large and starchy, too domesticated, to be a good representation of the wild grains found at the site.

It makes me wonder just how long ago humans were eating processed grains. By the looks of this, and from my reading, it was long before farming took off.